The best conductor is silver, it has the highest conductivity among metals. For this reason in the electrotechnical industry apply silver contacts, cover with this metal radio components for improvement of their electroconductive characteristics.
Instruction
1. Silver represents plastic soft metal of white color, in thin films and the passing light — with a blue shade. In the nature it is presented in the form of mix of two stable isotopes. Silver has the greatest heat conductivity and electric conductivity, and impurity in it worsen these characteristics.
2. Silver — the most widespread precious metal, it meets in average and low-temperature hydrothermal fields, sometimes it can be found in scatterings and sedimentary rocks.
3. More than 60 minerals containing silver are known. They are divided into 6 groups: native silver and its alloys with copper and gold, halogenides and sulfates, selenides and tellurides, sulfates, complex sulfides, or thiosalts, arsenides and antimonites.
4. At silver a face-centered cubic lattice, it diamagnitno, and its magnetic susceptibility does not depend on temperature. This metal is in the end of electrochemical series.
5. From all precious metals silver is most reactive, but, nevertheless, chemically it is a little actively and easily forced out from the connections. The melted alkalis and organic acids do not affect metal silver.
6. In connections it odnovalentno, at the room temperature is dissolved in nitric acid, silver nitrate as a result turns out. The concentrated hot sulfuric acid dissolves this metal with formation of sulfate.
7. Silver does not interact with hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen at a usual temperature. Under the influence of sulfur and halogens on its surface the protective film of sulfide and halogenides is formed.
8. The most part of the extracted silver is taken from polymetallic ores. For its receiving from silver and gold ores use a cyanation method — dissolve metal in alkaline solution of cyanide of sodium when accessing air, and then restore aluminum or zinc.
9. Silver alloys with copper, zinc, gold and other metals are used for production of contacts, conductor layers, solders and various devices in electronics and electrical equipment. Do batteries for accumulators of high power consumption which find the application in space and defense industry of silver.
10. Thanks to the pliability when processing and to beautiful white color silver is widely used in art and the jewelry industry. In pure form it represents rather soft material therefore add various non-ferrous metals to it, as a rule, copper.